Yaounde - Cameroon booked their spot in the World Cup finals in Brazil after easily defeating Tunisia 4-1 on Sunday in the second leg of their decisive playoff.
By News Wires (text)
Cameroon qualified for the World Cup with a 4-1 win over Tunisia in the second leg of their playoff on Sunday.
Cameroon won by the same score on aggregate after the teams drew 0-0 in the first leg in Tunisia.
Pierre Webo scored after four minutes for Cameroon and Benjamin Moundandjo made it 2-0 in the 30th at Omnisports Ahmadou-Ahidjo stadium.
Ahmed Akaichi pulled one back for the visiting Tunisians just after halftime, but Jean Makoun added a third in the 65th and scored again in the 86th to seal Cameroon’s progress.
Cameroon joins fellow West African teams Nigeria and Ivory Coast at the tournament in Brazil next year. Those teams qualified on Saturday.
Cameroon, Africa’s first quarterfinalist in 1990, will play in its seventh World Cup.
Nigeria became the first African nation to qualify for the World Cup finals after beating Ethiopia 2-0 on Saturday. Ivory Coast’s qualification followed that of Nigeria later in the evening with a 4-2 aggregate win against Senegal.
Nigeria's qualification continues an outstanding year for the team after it won the African title for the first time in nearly a decade.
Nigeria took the first of five African places at next year’s tournament.Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast plays Senegal in the decisive leg of their playoff later Saturday in neutral Morocco. Ivory Coast won the first leg 3-1.
In the three remaining African playoffs, Cameroon and Tunisia are level after a 0-0 draw in Tunisia and Burkina Faso leads Algeria 3-2 ahead of their second-leg games on Sunday. Egypt hosts Ghana on Tuesday needing a major upset to reach the World Cup for the first time since 1990 after Ghana won the first leg 6-1.
